Defender Calle Evans stood at the head of the Nation Ford huddle minutes before the Falcons’ game Thursday evening, instructing her teammates to mark up with their opponents and make smart plays on defense.
Midfielder Canaan Ross jumped in, telling the team that their constant conditioning would make a big difference.
“We’re ready for this,” the junior told her teammates shortly before the opening face-off. “We’re ready to make it happen.”
Greg Allen, in his first season as the Falcons’ new head coach, said he’s given his players “a long leash” to teach each other this spring. Personal leadership is a core tenet of Allen’s coaching style, he said.
“You learn more by teaching,” he said, following Nation Ford’s 19-3 rout in their home opener Thursday, Feb. 26 over Providence High (Charlotte, N.C.). “They teach each other, they step up, and they have a lot of leeway to be vocal. I step in when I need to, and it’s good for their self-confidence.”
Allen has high expectations for Nation Ford in his first year at the helm. Following a 2-13 year in 2025, Allen wants to see his team on the path to at least a second-round appearance in the Class 5A state playoffs.
The 2-0 Falcons are already off to a hot start. Allen’s team has beaten its first two opponents by a combined score of 41-7, with a trip to A.C. Flora scheduled for Friday, Feb. 27.
Senior midfielder Caitlyn Stolarek led the team with five goals Thursday night against Providence, while Ross, a junior, added four goals.
Nine different Falcons scored for Nation Ford in the dominant win; senior attacker Kyrie Sund and senior defender Sarah Kinley added two goals each, while sophomore defender Haley Pettit, senior midfielder Brooke Hufnagel, junior Saylor Murray, Evans, and sophomore Piper Land also scored for Nation Ford.
“They really see each other on the field,” Allen said. “They’re team-focused. We don’t run and gun. They see each other and share the ball more. We’re working on our assist percentage, and the team really backs each other up over the field.”
Nation Ford led 5-2 after the first quarter, with Stolarek and Ross scoring back-to-back goals within 15 seconds of each other to quickly overturn an early Providence goal.
Ross bullied defenders through the middle for her opening two goals, and nearly had a hat-trick in the opening seven minutes, but was denied by the post.
Nation Ford poured on the offense in the second quarter, scoring six unanswered goals to take a 11-2 halftime lead.
Stolarek scored three times in the second quarter as the Falcons flew past the visitors. Nation Ford scored five more goals in the third quarter, pushing the lead to 16-3.
Allen has a Charlotte background, with multiple tenures at South Mecklenburg High School, where he led both the boys’ and girls’ lacrosse programs at different times. He has also coached travel and recreational lacrosse programs. He took over the Nation Ford program last summer, replacing Emily Daly after three seasons.
Allen has five seniors on the roster, including three college commits in Stolarek (Lincoln Memorial University), Riley Gibson (Coker College), and Kinley (Lees-McCrae).
Allen said his team is well-balanced, with Evans and Kinley as defensive mainstays and sophomore goalie KaraLynn Marsh in net. He said he’s instilled a rigorous conditioning routine in his team’s preparation, something that he says will pay dividends later on in the season.
He sees conditioning as the cornerstone of the game.
“They didn’t stop running tonight,” he said. “I told them, ‘Eventually, you’ll get the method to my madness. You’ll run a lot, more than you ever have.’ But they’re really buying in.”
He also touted his players as being ‘team-focused.’ Allen said his team has bonded and gel well with each other, both last year and over the offseason.
They have fun together, on and off the pitch, but when it comes time for work, “they get on the line and run,” said Allen.
